Weird Al Yankovic Blends Together Hits From Olivia Rodrigo, Lil Nas X, Taylor Swift & More On New Single “Polkamania!”

Famed comedy writer/musician “Weird Al” Yankovic is back with new polka medley in “Polkamania!”. The first new polka medley since 2018’s “The Hamilton Polka” and the first to be comprised of pop songs since 2014’s “Now That’s What I Call Polka!”, off his last album Mandatory Fun, which is approaching its 10^th year anniversary. Polka medleys have been part of the Weird Al repertoire since the early days of his career. The first being “Polkas on 45”, a polka mish-mash of classic rock songs off of his second studio album “Weird Al” Yankovic in 3-D.

For “Polkamania!”, the polka makeover is given to tracks like Billie Eilish’s “bad guy”, Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road”, Olivia Rodrigo’s “vampire”, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP”, and Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” among others. The synced-up rhythm of random songs shows that Weird Al can still take a handful of pop songs and give them an accordion makeover.

Some of the highlights of this medley are given to his covers of “Old Town Road”, “WAP” and “Shake It Off”. For “Old Town Road”, the country rap stylings of the original made it the perfect song to give it a polka transition. Aside from the tempos and instrumentation, “Weird Al’s” take on the track was still able to preserve the spirit of the original. For “WAP”, a musical medium of sexually charged energy, has given “Weird Al” an abundance of material to work with. In place of the acronym’s words, “Weird Al” has used the sound of effects of a faucet drip, a mule, and a cat respectively in the song’s chorus, as a creative way for self-censorship. As for his cover of “Shake It Off”, the polka stylings to a pop anthem, hit just the right amount of comedic and musical synergy as was done in “Weird Al’s” previous polka medley closing of Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” in “Now That’s What I Call Polka!”.

In the addition the medley “Polkamania’s!” video also boasts a mish-mash of animators that have animated and directed many of “Weird Al’s” music videos. Ranging Cyriak, Liam Lynch, Bill Plympton, Ryan Krzak, and many more, “Polkamania!” celebrates all the animators that have contributed to Weird Al’s comedic image.  Some animation highlights of the video are also given to the segments of “Old Town Road” and WAP”, with “Bad Guy” and “Shape of You” also receiving this credit.